Have you noticed your obedient plant rebelling into a doughnut shape with an empty hole in the middle? Has ‘Rozanne’ lost her vigor, with less and less flair each year? Are your spring tulips a carpet of green instead of red? Or maybe your friends are dying for a piece of your lungwort? While most flower gardens start out lush and colorful early in the season, late summer and fall often yield a less desirable look. Don’t be afraid to chop on your plants, you won’t hurt them. A little deadheading and dividing can go a long way in the perennial garden.

If you took a survey of home gardeners and asked them about their favorite vegetable to grow, most likely the tomato would be at the top of the list. Anyone who has grown tomatoes knows that the quality and flavor of homegrown far surpasses that of a store-bought tomato. Anyone who has spent time growing tomatoes also knows that at times they can be finicky and be a challenge, even for the most experienced gardener. If you happen to cherish the more flavorful heirloom varieties, you face even greater challenges when it comes to disease, insects and cultural problems. While the practice has been around for centuries, grafting has more recently become the rage in growing difficult tomato varieties more successfully. With the difficult task of growing these older varieties, grafting may give you the edge to get the job done in your garden.

Despite their many problems, I still like roses. However, I do insist on having at least a modicum of fragrance and substance. Therein lies the problem. With the exception of a few enlightened rose breeders, the bulk of roses originating over the past several decades have focused on the flower form and color at the expense of fragrance. The newer landscape roses go a long way in their disease resistance and increased flower number, but can lack fragrance and produce flowers with no style; a blaze of eye-searing color perhaps, but in the end not very satisfying. For those of us who think a rose should smell like a rose, it often means seeking out the older, fragrant roses.

While there are a number of different methods of plant propagation, here we will concentrate on just one kind – cutting propagation. Cuttings are used to propagate trees and shrubs, herbaceous perennials and a wide array of houseplants.

As you walk through your local garden center, have you ever wondered where the plants come from? Why are there so many of one plant and only a few of another? The process of creating enough plants for us to purchase takes a scientific approach, technical skill, and a lot of artistry.

If you have a plant you would like to share with someone or just make more of, now is a good time to take cuttings. In spring, the longer days and increased sunlight awaken our houseplants from their winter slumber. They push new growth, making it the optimal time to take cuttings.

Here's an example of an orchid that has been in the same container for probably about ten years in the greenhouse. It really should have been divided 2 or 3 times in that period of time, but since it was not, we will try to show you what you would do to get that back in better shape.

Today I'm going to show you how to get your seeds started for your fall vegetables. You can start vegetable seeds in just about any container you have available. Whether it's an egg carton or the containers from your grocery store delicatessen even to the flats and six packs you save from your spring and summer flowers that you buy at your garden centers.

The only requirement is the bottom of the container allow adequate drainage so we don't have seeds sitting in saturated soil . That'll lead to fungal issues and a condition called damping off as the seeds germinate. What I've done with this flat is line it with paper towels so it'll hold soil and allow adequate drainage at the same time. So, all we have to do is fill this flat with our soil until it's level and then pre-moisten the soil. And, again with compost and a mixture of vermiculite and promix, moistening the soil ahead of time won't be a problem.

Well, today I'm going to show you how to save seeds from everybody's favorite crop. Our homegrown tomato. So, lets go back to the kitchen, and I'll show you how to save tomato seeds.

So, we're going to start by simply slicing a tomato open. And you can see how the seeds are kind of embedded in this juice on the inside. Tomatoes are actually berries. They're fleshy, mini-seeded fruits, and we're going to have to get the seeds out by simply squeezing the contents into this bowl.

My grandfather’s shed was a mysterious place. Tools I didn’t recognize lined the walls over shelves of coffee cans filled with rusty hardware. Most interesting to me were the dozens of blue glass jars tucked carefully toward the back of each shelf, with seeds of every color and shape imaginable tightly sealed inside. Seed saving seems to have gone the way of horse-drawn plows. Many gardeners opt for ...

Houseplants bring life to our homes and offices, but sometimes they outgrow their welcome. Those with woody stems, such as dracaenas, corn plants and scheffleras, can become too tall and lose their shape or threaten the ceiling. Instead of tossing them out and buying new plants or giving them to a friend with taller ceilings, try air layering. This easy propagation technique will not only rejuvenate your plants — it will reward you with new plants for your efforts ...

A complete guide to simple container gardening designed for anyone who has ever killed a plant. It includes illustrated instructions to create gorgeous, fool-proof container gardens that even you can't kill!>> more information

Enhance your health naturally with herbs from your own garden. Even if you've never gardened before, you can care for yourself and your family using time-tested herbal remedies harvested from your own medicinal herb garden. Master Gardener Dorie Byers offers simple growing instructions for more than 20 versatile medicinal herbs such as garlic, chamomile, and echinacea. You'll also find recipes and tips for using the herbs for first-aid and preventive health care.>> more information